textil, cloth

Del av konstverket "Hardship and hope: Crossing the U.S. Mexico Border".

The genesis of this installation was an altar created in 2004 to young women crossing the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. Beginning with a diaper bag found in the desert stuffed with fresh diapers, a child’s birth certificate, infant clothing, and a bottle of No More Tears No Mas Lagrimas baby shampoo, over the years the altar grew as friends, neighbors and humanitarians contributed more items gathered in the desert, articles reflecting the true face of migration, the face of family.
In the desert we discover hand embroidered cloths with loving inscriptions that read like prayer, treasured family photos and letters from children, religious artifacts and personal belongings carried close to the traveler’s heart like talismans, for protection and safe passage. Each object found embedded in the sand carries a personal untold story, an echo of the human heart, hope and longing, survival and defeat.

Artists/Archivists: Valarie James & Antonia Gallegos, 2010